The costume party held at Queen’s last week stereotyped and demeaned our racialized students, faculty, and staff. This is not an isolated incident in which racialized persons on our campus have felt alienated and unsafe. For instance, the recent decision by a local student group—since revoked—to cast a white woman in the part of Othello demonstrated a lack of understanding around “black facing” white bodies. These two very recent examples show us how much power and responsibility students have in perpetuating, influencing, or undoing stereotypes. As Film and Media students you already know that images are not benign, and that all media and moving images, even those considered as "entertainment" can have negative, real world consequences. As the new generation of creative talent in film and media, as media makers and scholars, you have the opportunity and a special obligation to produce work that challenges our society when it fails to see that images shape our world. As a department we want to assure our racialized students that we condemn the culture of white privilege and believe in, and stand for, diversity and justice.

FILM 250 students practice with cameras at the Isabel Bader Centre for the Performing Arts